Davis, a professional opera singer who now lives in Indiana, filed the suits after state narcotics agents unlawfully searched his family and his West Allentown home in 1993.

The agents suspected Davis was running a methamphetamine laboratory at 627 N. 16th St. because neighbor Susan Erich and her sisters, Carol Erich and Barbara Hanna, reported strange odors coming from the common wall of their row home.

The Davis family and lawyer John P. Karoly Jr. claimed authorities got a search warrant based on inaccurate and insufficient information and didn't properly investigate the neighbors' complaints before conducting the pre-dawn raid.

Agents wielding guns and wearing gas masks awakened Davis, his wife, Elizabeth, their 2-year-old son and their baby. They ordered Mrs. Davis to disrobe and searched her, carried the children outside and refused to explain why they were there, according to the suit.

Agents found no drugs or any indication of them.

The Davises sued the state attorney general's office, narcotics agents who participated in the raid, former Attorney General Ernie Preate, a Lehigh County assistant district attorney, District Attorney Robert Steinberg, Allentown police, Allentown and the three sisters.

The attorney general's office has agreed to pay the Davises $55,000, with each sister paying $1,000, according to press secretary Jack J. Lewis.

He said the check has been cut and will be given to the Davises when Karoly notifies the attorney general of the approved settlement and when the Davises sign a release freeing the defendants from future claims.

In the $58,000 settlement approved by Judge Lawrence J. Brenner, $30,300 will go to Brian and Elizabeth Davis for reimbursement of costs and $23,200 to Karoly for his 40 percent fee.

Of the remainder, $3,000 will be put in an interest-bearing savings account, money market account or certificate of deposit that 4-year-old Patrick Davis can withdraw when he's 18. His 2-year-old brother, Ian, will get $1,500, which is his share of the settlement, when he turns 18.

The orphans court had to approve the settlement because it involved legal claims of minors.

Steinberg said the district attorney's office is not admitting liability, didn't contribute to the settlement and had limited involvement in the case.

State drug agents wrote an affidavit to get the search warrant, he said. A deputy attorney general gave the warrant application to an assistant district attorney, who reviewed it and gave it to Judge James Knoll Gardner, who approved it.

Steinberg was adamant that his office wasn't involved in the investigation or execution of the warrant. "This was an attorney general's operation," he said.

According to the warrant application, Susan Erich called an agent and said an odor like that of cat urine was coming from next door. The agent interviewed Erich and said that he, too, smelled the odor, which is associated with methamphetamine labs.

Erich reported that Davis had no visible means of support, that he put his garbage out at odd hours and was away from home for long periods, and that gurgling could be heard from the other side of the wall. Agents suspected Davis was manufacturing a highly explosive and illegal chemical.

The attorney general's office, which did an internal investigation, issued a statement that it regretted the Davises were subjected to a search in the "unfortunate incident."

The office concluded that its personnel "acted properly based on the information available to them and the fact they had an approved search warrant."